Has it been 10 weeks already?!?

In order to motivate myself to lose the ‘macy weight’ – that she generously helped me gain while I was pregnant– I signed up for a half marathon. Yes, I am officially crazy.

Don’t get me wrong. I am all for fitness, health, and yes, even running (in moderation). But 13.1 miles?!? That’s seems a little overwhelming to a slightly new mom – whose first time running post-baby was easily comparable to an elephant tromping in the deserts of Africa. Visually hysterical. Trust me… (I looked in car windows). 13.1 miles is suicide in my book.

So why did I sign up for the dreaded half marathon? Hopefully I will have a more definitive answer on Sunday (after the race). Maybe it was to force myself to do something I otherwise would have never done? We’ll see.

The training was for 10 weeks, and I must say, I was very proud of myself for running, and staying on schedule even though I was traveling from Hawaii to Denver and New York and back in a six week time frame. Plus, as one would find out very quickly, the air is thinner in Colorado due to the high elevation. So running there took some getting used to.

My favorite part about all the training was when I was able to come home after the run and ‘check’ the box off next to the mileage I just ran. Yes, I made a ‘schedule’, and took great joy in watching the list dwindle as I checked away!

So why is this half marathon so dreaded you might ask? Well, over the last 3 weeks, since being home, I haven’t trained well at all. I went from running to four times a week – to running maybe once a week (once I returned to Hawaii). Not good. Not so good at all. It wasn’t all laziness, however, there was an injury that inhibited the ‘joy’ of running. But, hopefully it won’t give me too much of a problem come race day!

There is a quote that I read that rings so true for me. One that I hope to implement on race day – it says this:

"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."
- George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian

I am now under 24 hours out from the start of the race, and I am already started to dread 6 am on Sunday. I am going to race as well as I can and hope that I can finish in under 5 hours! Pray for me…